What are your thoughts???
Sinker/Change ups
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Who is Paul Reddick?
To quote Chameleon...
Nonsense.
Nonsense.
Sink w/ the CH is desirable.....absolutely.....teaching to pronate I'm not a fan of....firm front side will promote forward handspeed w/ all arm slots, which will allow you to stay behind the CH.....arm pronates on ALL pitches....you can turn the ball over to sink it but it is not necessary.....tilt the axis to sink it...but you must get on top and out front.....
he's closer with the CH than he is with the sinker.....I differ.....wouldn't teach a kid to pronate...that happens anyway.....just don't want to add to it......
he's closer with the CH than he is with the sinker.....I differ.....wouldn't teach a kid to pronate...that happens anyway.....just don't want to add to it......
I only watched his discussion of the circle change (for some reason, maybe a bandwidth problem on my end, I only get 6 seconds of video at a time, then it pauses for buffering or something while it loads up the next 6 seconds--very irritating!).
Anyway, guys--Reddick is teaching exactly what Tom House teaches about the circle change. Don't be so quick to dismiss the main points, which sound like an exact echo of Tom's comments on the circle change.
1. Thumb and middle finger must cut the ball exactly in half on all pitches, including the circle change. (The split-finger fastball is excepted from this rule, of course).
2. Most kids do not have big enough hands/long enough fingers to make an effective circle change grip, bearing in mind #1, above. In those cases, a C-change (wherein the thumb and index finger do not actually touch but form a "C" shape, or a 3-finger change might be easier to handle.
3. The circle change should be pronated like Reddick (or, more likely Tom House) suggests, almost like a screwball, to be effective.
In fact, Tom suggests that all standard change-up pitches--3-finger change, circle change, C-change,--should be pronated well before release, almost as much as a screwball. He says that: changeup grip + fastball-style release = a very mediocre fastball.
Since most kids can't actually make some of the changeup grips correctly, and since even fewer can throw with screwball-style pronation, Tom also teaches the split-finger fastball as an alternative to the changeup. Most kids can make a very effective split-finger grip, they throw it with fastball-style mechanics, and it can be very, very effective off of a 4-seam or 2-seam fastball.
I think Reddick has incorporated quite a number of Tom House's concepts and teachings into his own coaching business. I don't know if Tom appreciates that or not but, if Reddick is stealing stuff and repackaging it as his own he is at least taking it from a very credible source.
Anyway, guys--Reddick is teaching exactly what Tom House teaches about the circle change. Don't be so quick to dismiss the main points, which sound like an exact echo of Tom's comments on the circle change.
1. Thumb and middle finger must cut the ball exactly in half on all pitches, including the circle change. (The split-finger fastball is excepted from this rule, of course).
2. Most kids do not have big enough hands/long enough fingers to make an effective circle change grip, bearing in mind #1, above. In those cases, a C-change (wherein the thumb and index finger do not actually touch but form a "C" shape, or a 3-finger change might be easier to handle.
3. The circle change should be pronated like Reddick (or, more likely Tom House) suggests, almost like a screwball, to be effective.
In fact, Tom suggests that all standard change-up pitches--3-finger change, circle change, C-change,--should be pronated well before release, almost as much as a screwball. He says that: changeup grip + fastball-style release = a very mediocre fastball.
Since most kids can't actually make some of the changeup grips correctly, and since even fewer can throw with screwball-style pronation, Tom also teaches the split-finger fastball as an alternative to the changeup. Most kids can make a very effective split-finger grip, they throw it with fastball-style mechanics, and it can be very, very effective off of a 4-seam or 2-seam fastball.
I think Reddick has incorporated quite a number of Tom House's concepts and teachings into his own coaching business. I don't know if Tom appreciates that or not but, if Reddick is stealing stuff and repackaging it as his own he is at least taking it from a very credible source.
If any of you guys are into gettyimages.com, go to their website and search Jason Schmidt--there's a pretty good side-view picture of him throwing his circle change--you'll see some of what I'm talking about in the post above:
Thumb and middle finger don't cut the ball exactly in half, but his hand/wrist is pronated something like a screwball (so that the circle is aimed at the catcher) far before release point.
Thumb and middle finger don't cut the ball exactly in half, but his hand/wrist is pronated something like a screwball (so that the circle is aimed at the catcher) far before release point.
quote:Anyway, guys--Reddick is teaching exactly what Tom House teaches about the circle change.
Tom has been wrong about many things.
quote:1. Thumb and middle finger must cut the ball exactly in half on all pitches, including the circle change.
This makes no sense to me, and is in no way an absolute. You mentioned the exception being the split, but how about sliders, cutters, and changeups?
quote:3. The circle change should be pronated like Reddick (or, more likely Tom House) suggests, almost like a screwball, to be effective.
Not true.....at all. The only time pronation should be used when teaching this pitch is if the pitcher is getting around the outside of it and "slurving" it to the plate. It needs to come out of your hand like a fastball with fastball handspeed...NOT like a screwball.
quote:In fact, Tom suggests that all standard change-up pitches--3-finger change, circle change, C-change,--should be pronated well before release, almost as much as a screwball. He says that: changeup grip + fastball-style release = a very mediocre fastball.
Tom and Reddick suggest this, and both are wrong. They need to visit this pitch again, and start experimenting with the 1000 different grips that it can be thrown with.
quote:Since most kids can't actually make some of the changeup grips correctly, and since even fewer can throw with screwball-style pronation, Tom also teaches the split-finger fastball as an alternative to the changeup. Most kids can make a very effective split-finger grip, they throw it with fastball-style mechanics, and it can be very, very effective off of a 4-seam or 2-seam fastball.
A split can be used as an effective change. But, if a kid is not capable of making different change up grips, is he really ready for a split fingered one? I think not.
Laflippin, I hope this post does not sound like an attack against you. I just dont agree with or teach some of thier views.
quote:Originally posted by deemax:
This makes no sense to me, and is in no way an absolute. You mentioned the exception being the split, but how about sliders, cutters, and changeups?
You can't use the middle finger to cut the ball on sliders and cutters because the ball is suppose to come off the index finger. So, you actually want to use the index finger to cut the ball, that's why Steve Carlton suggests using this grip to train for a slider. The middle finger should be on outside of the ball, instead of behind it.
